A Job Overdone
by EmeraldOfTheOcean
Summary: Turtle TOTS 2012 (age 5), One night, Leo gets himself very sick when gives Donatello the only blanket he has to sleep with all night. Which is something Master Splinter must figure out how to address this issue
1. You're Scaring Me

**I got the idea for this story because I wanted to write a multi chaptered Turtle Tots story. Three chapters, nice and quick. Enjoy**

 **(11:45 PM)**

The chaotic life of the Hamato family wasn't always the daily routine for them. Back in the old days, Master Splinter didn't have to worry about Oroku Saki trying to destroy his new family, and he'd found a place safe from the strange machines trying to kill him and dissect his innocent little boys, the most he had to worry about was the typical troubles of being a single father. The only difference is that he had to hide them from the outside world at all cost. When the Turtles were five years old, that wasn't much of a problem as they were rather content with staying in the lair, at least for their younger years.

One night in the turtles' bedroom, eleven forty five at night to be precise, all the boys were sleeping peacefully in cots separated by the four corners of one room. Because of scarce resources, Splinter only managed to find one new blanket for each of them last week, and each one matching their masks' colors. Also it was nearing the late November season so temperatures were beginning to drop lower and lower by the week, and there was only so much Master Splinter could do for his poor cold blooded children. So on this night in question, all the Turtles were sleeping soundly except for the eldest of the little turtles, Leonardo, who was just returning from a trip to the bathroom. The blue eyed toddler slipped his way into the bedroom by the guide of Mikey's nightlight sitting by the door. Once he entered back into the room, he suddenly noticed that the room was a little colder than usual due to the weather change. While rubbing his arms, the eldest turtle looked to his right to see a sleeping Donatello who's curled himself into a tight ball. From what Leo knew, his intelligent little brother was usually colder than the rest of the boys due to being naturally thinner. Leonardo felt his brotherly instinct kick in, as Master Splinter has been teaching all of the boys, particularly the oldest turtle, the value of each other; "You are not just a team, you are brothers. A band of brothers must do anything and everything for each other, no matter the size of your actions."

With that in mind, the blue masked turtle felt the need to do something for his second youngestbrother. Thus, he stepped over to his cot, picked up his light blue fleece blanket and placed it over Donnie's sleeping, shivering body. After a moment, Donnie felt the extra warmth upon himself and unconsciously grew a tiny smile of comfort and pulled the second fleece blanket closer to his neck. Feeling that he did his assignment as the oldest brother, Leonardo returned to his cot and prepared to return to his own dreamland. Which was easier said than done. For three whole hours, Leo tried but failed to fall asleep due to the cold autumn temperatures plaguing his room. The only thing he had to search for warmth was his yellow teddy bear and his Darkwing Duck pillow. As the following three hours went on, he was feeling quite miserable and uncomfortable, and wondered if he was ever going to fall back to sleep. At one point, he was tempted to sneak back over there and take back his blanket. However, when he sat up and glared at Donatello, he couldn't help but notice how content and relaxed he was compared to before. Leo sighed and decided he'll have to go back to sleep without the warmth of a nice, fluffy, cozy blanket over his tiny turtle body. He didn't have a choose, as he suddenly remembered that they're going to wake them up bright and early tomorrow for a special meditation session. Hopefully when he woke up, the Dojo's sunlight would provide him with some glorious warmth or just a little relief. The blue eyed toddler would

have to wait until morning because he finally managed to fall asleep after three painful hours of shivering.

 **(THE NEXT MORNING)**

As for the rest of the turtles, the three younger brothers woke up right on schedule; they all sat up in their beds and yawned aloud. Where Raphael and Donatello were struggling to shake the sand out of their eyes, little Mikey was already bouncing where he was sitting and was anxious to get his brothers moving this morning, no matter how annoyed he made them. With a happy yet devious grin he jumped off his cot and pounced towards Raph, whose cot was diagonally across from his,with a pillow "RISE AND SHINE, RAPHIE!" he exclaimed as he slapped his hot headed brother across the chest with said pillow and rushed towards the bedroom door, "Betca can't get me! Ha ha ha!"

Due to that blow, the green eyed toddler shook off his exhaustion and focused his frustration on his brother "Mikey!" he growled in anger as he zoomed past a somewhat chipper Donatello, pulling both the blankets off of his cot, and chased after his freckled baby brother in a blazing hot fury. Meanwhile, the brown eyed little egg head was feeling the best he's felt in a very long time. He usually felt colder at night and he'd stay up late thinking about random nerdy things, but last night, he felt so much warmer and comfortable that he didn't want to question it, he felt incredibly positive this morning. In fact, Donnie was in such a great mood that he didn't notice Leo's blue fleece blanket hidden under his own purple one. Humming his favorite song, Donnie happily walked out of the room on his way to the Dojo, unknowingly leaving poor Leo alone.

A few minutes passed since Donatello left the room and it's taken Leo this long to gather enough energy to open his burning eyes. Between the lack of sleep and intense fever, the oldest reptile was feeling rather loopy and he could barely hear what was going on around him. Then, he heard mumbling coming from the cot at the head corner of his own, across from the door. Leo could just process the voice to confirm that it belonged to his closest brother in age, Raphael who returned to retrieve his red mask that he forgot to put on because he was chasing his hyper little brother

"stupid Mikey, making me forget my mask. When I get my hands on him." the grouchy hot head mumbled aloud, until he suddenly remembered he wasn't alone; his one and only older brother had yet to make a sound. Raph was confused by this because Leonardo was usually the first one in the dojo by now, or he'd at least try get there before Raphael. Something was off about this, but the green eyed toddler wasn't too concerned at first as he just thought his older brother was merely being lazy for some reason. "Hey, Leo. You coming?" he asked from his side of the room. Then, with a mere moaning sound, Leo sat up from his cot and rubbed his eyes as he stood on his two wobbling feet.

Upon not getting a verbal response, the confused hothead requested his attention once again. "Uh, Leo? Did you hear me? You look kinda dizzy."

With his head nodding in exhaustion and his head wobbling like a bobble head, Leo turned his direction towards a mystified Raphael and spoke in a very slurred expression "Who are you lookin' at?" he exclaimed, pointing a droopy finger at his brother, much to the latter's bewilderment.

"Um... you. We're the only two in here-"

"I didn't take your bazooka, Raphie. Why'd ya a-assume its me?" Leo questioned as he struggled to stand in his place, despite his effort to stand straight.

This morphed Raphie's emotions from frustration to concerned perplexity. This behavior might not be out of left field for Mikey, and Donnie usually spoke in big gibberish words. Leo may've talked the most, much to Raph's dismay, but they could always understand Leonardo the best. "...Are you feeling okay, bro?" he asked curiously

Leo shrugged his shoulders and slowly took exaggerated steps towards Raphael "If anyone took your bazooka, keep your eyes out for the Jellybean Mafia, those guys can be really shady." he chuckled as he tripped as he hot headed brother stopped midway to the brother to giggle and lean on the wall.

Now little Raph was very uncomfortable, he suddenly saw how pale Leo's face was and how red his eyes were, they were almost glowing. Upon seeing the eldest brother's behavior, he took a few frightened steps backwards, "L-Leo... you're scaring me." he stuttered as his disturbing brother came closer to him

Suddenly, Leo stood in place and had a quick coughing fit, "Ya think you're scared, Buddy? I'm in a ...LOT of pain... right now." he announced as he passed out and thankfully hit the floor by his arm. His only sign of reaction was that he groaned in pain as he mumbled more gibberish to himself on the floor

"LEO!" Raph gasped in terror as he rushed and slid on his knees to help Leo up to his feet and wrapped his brother's arm around his neck, "Come on, Buddy, we're gonna go see Sensei." he grunted as he limped towards the door with the ill child still laughing to himself from the fever dream he was trapped in.

"Whoo! Hey, Raphie, do you think Sensei will share the grapes growing from his antlers?"

 **(TO BE CONTINUED)**

 **OKAY! so I had to cut this a bit short, but you'll see what happens in the next chapter, and yes, I wrote Leo to be a bit loopy from the exhaust and the fever he's caught. This was just the set up chapter, so hope you enjoyed, leave a review and fav if you want more.**

 **(I DO NOT OWN TMNT)**


	2. The Blanket

**Remember to leave an honest review in terms of quality and enjoy. Keep in mind, my** **fan fictions are becoming more and more draining to make.I wrote to be more straight forward and toned down compared to my other stories, but I hope you all still enjoy.**

 _ **I DO NOT OWN TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES**_

 **(DOJO)**

Master Splinter was sitting in lotus position under his large tree, awaiting the arrival of his four proud and joys. Last night, Leonardo and Donatello convinced their father to let them wake themselves up this morning so the boys could show growing signs of responsibility on their part. The wise rodent debated his decision since they were merely five years old and very hyper, but caved in to their request as to show them a sign of trust. Besides, Splinter woke himself up early so if the boys were ten minutes late, he'd wake them up himself. Just then, he realized there'd be no need for that, as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him and quickly sitting down in front of him. He opened his eyes to find his two youngest sons kneeling in front of him, and smiling waiting their master to speak to them first.

"Ah, good morning, my sons." he greeted them warmly by hugging both of them.

"Good morning, Sensei." "Hi, Papa." they replied as he let them down back where they were sitting

"Thank you boys for arriving on time," he said rubbing Mikey's head and making him, "and might I add you two are in very good moods this morning."

"I know!" Donnie exclaimed with a chipper voice, almost bouncing in his seat. "I haven't felt this refreshed in a long time. I had an amazing sleep last night." the smart little turtle added. Master Splinter chuckled and rubbed Donnie's little head softly, feeling a sense of joy that his son was feeling so healthy and happy. However, something was a bit off in this picture; Mikey and Donnie arrived to an important training session early , yet there was so sign of Leonardo or Raphael. Normally, those two were racing to get to the dojo first just to impress their father. Just before he could question the two youngest boys about this situation, a much more concerning problem reared its sickly head.

"You got some of that good feeling to spare?" the red masked toddler asked as he hastily announced with Leo having a coughing and giggling fit on his shoulder. Upon seeing Raph's position, the rodent father gasped and rushed over to to his two eldest children, "Boys?"

Mikey and Donnie gasped when they saw Leo's condition and raced right behind Master Splinter.

The Ninja Master gently took his coughing son off of his hot heated one and asked with worry, "Leonardo, what's the matter? Can you hear me?"

"I don't know what happened, Sensei." Raphie explained in fear, "He just fell over after he started acting all wacky."

"What do you mean wacky?" asked a perplexed Donatello

Before Raph could reply, Leo moaned in pain as he quickly gave a bizarre response "I'll be fine, Sensei," he said, sounding very woozy and out of touch with what's happening around him, "but I'd feel a lot better if we made peace with the hummingbirds? They seemed nice when I met them." he added while he cringed from pain in his father's arms

"Like that." replied Raphael

Master Splinter was highly concerned about his oldest son, between the high fever, heavy coughing and gibberish speaking, it was clear that he needed to give Leonardo all his attention for now, or Lord knows that this do to his health, "Training is canceled for today, my sons." he announced, standing up, "Your brother is very ill and I need to care for him right now. Donatello, I would like you to assist me."

"Hai, Sensei." the egg head exclaimed

"Raphael," he kneeled in front of his green eyed turtle and whispered,"Thank you for staying calm and bringing Leonardo to me, but right now, I need you to maintain that bravery and display it to Michelangelo. Can you do that for me?" he requested by gesturing his irises towards his sweet, youngest child who was so focused on his eldest brother, he didn't noticed that his name was mentioned.

"Okay, Sensei. You got it." he whispered back and nodded

"Good boy." he smiled and rubbed his son's cheek in consolation "Come, Donatello." he gestured his intelligent child into the kitchen. Once there, Splinter laid the sickly turtle on the table and sat Donnie right next to Leo who was curling into a ball again, struggling to find comfort within himself. "I need to gather things treat him, my son. Just try to speak to Leonardo and help him relax." he ordered he stepped over to the fridge and began preparing an ice pack. Meanwhile, Donnie crawled next to his older brother to gently rub his shivering shell as he released a few more nasty sneezes

"How're you feeling, Leo?" he asked the most preciously caring voice

Leo blinked his burning red eyes and replied, "I don't know, Donnie.

I feel cold but hot at the same time, and that hedgehog says I'll feel better hugging myself." he explained, pointing towards a green apple that was sitting on the edge of the table. Donnie stared at the apple with perplexed eyes and then stared back down at his eldest brother and decided to humor the sickly Leo with an awkward expression

"Um... right... Well don't worry, Leo. We'll have you back on your feet in no time. Right, Sensei?" he asked as his father put down all the things he'd gathered from the kitchen.

"Hai, Donatello, but only if we take care of him now." Splinter quickly replied, placing his little helper on the floor so he can walk. With a thermometer in one hand, he sat Leo up with his other hand. Once Splinter gently got Leo to take the thermometer, he softly spoke to him, "I need you to keep your mouth while I'm taking your temperature, my sweet. Can you do that for me?" he requested as he soothingly stroked his son's burning cheek Beginning to come back to reality, Leo nodded as he waited for his father to hold him and give him comfort. Unfortunately, that would have to wait just few moments;

"Donatello, I must carry your brother to his bed, I need you to take these things so that we may cool his body " he said, placing an ice pact, a small towel, and a bowl of cold water into Donnie's arms, but Donnie was able to hold everything perfectly fine. "Why don't we cool you down, My son? Come, let's put you to bed" he cradled Leonardo in his arms and followed by Donnie, he brought Leo over to his bed and laid him down, just as the thermometer beeped. Splinter took the thermometer out of Leo's mouth and saw how high of a fever, "Hmm, well, you're not contagious, but you might have to stay in bed for a few days." he softly explained, lying his ill son down and reached for his baby blue blanket, only to see that it wasn't near. "Donatello, do you see Leonardo's blanket?" he asked as both of them looked around the room, but didn't see the blanket anywhere.

"Um... no Sensei, but-"

"He can borrow mine." exclaimed Mikey who popped up next to Splinter with his orange blanket in his hands. Splinter widened his eyes, and turned towards the door to see Raph standing there in shame. "Sorry, Sensei. He wanted to see Leo, and so did I." he rubbed the back of his head, feeling ashamed that he failed to keep Mikey distracted.

"He he he. That's all right boys, and thank you, Michelangelo." he cooed as he kissed Mikey on the head to comfort him. "Raphael, did you see Leonardo's blanket when he woke up?" the wise rodent asked as he place d the ice pack over Leo's head. The blue masked turtle was twisting around in discomfort as Splinter lightly tried to hold his head straight to keep this ice pack on his forehead

After thinking hard about it, it suddenly hit the young hothead exclaimed, "No, I actually didn't see it at all." he shrugged his shoulders.

The concerned glared at his ill son, who seemed to have fallen asleep from his pain, "So, that's why your brother is sick; he probably went all night without his blanket." his explained to his three youngest sons.

"What happened to it?" asked the baby blued eyed turtle as he stood next to Leonardo. Mikey couldn't help but take Leo's hand, hoping that would somehow help him get better a little faster

"I'm not sure, Michelangelo, that's something I need to ask him when-" suddenly, the alarming sound of a hissing teapot shout throughout the lair. "That's the teapot. Can you three watch Leonardo for few minutes without disturbing him?"

"Hai Sensei." they all quietly exclaimed as Splinter quickly left them to get Leonardo's herbal tea. Once their father was gone, Mikey at first followed him out, but stopped midway, remembering that he'd be right back. On his way back to Leo's cot, something blue caught his innocent little , Raph and Donnie gathered around their eldest brother, not knowing what to do right now. As the purple masked turtle placed the fallen ice pact back on Leo's head, the green eyed brother asked his smart one,

"Is there anything we can do for him, Donnie?" Raphie asked with sorrow.

"No," Donnie sighed, "All we can do is keep him cozy, Master Splinter'll do the rest." his eyes lingered off to find that Mikey's blanket was too short Leo's body was wasn't covering his feet, "Starting with his feet. We'd better put another blanket over his feet just to be safe."

"Like this?" exclaimed Mikey who threw Leo's missing blue blanket over his feet, much to the surprise of his brother.

"Wow, good job, Mikey!" Donnie praised his little brother for discovering the lost blanket, "You found Leo's blanket!"

I did?" asked little Mikey, "Oh, yeah! I did!" he announced with pride

"So where'd you find it?" asked Raphael curiously.

"Oh, it was under Donnie's blanket." he bluntly replied, pointing back towards Donatello's cot, where his purple fleece blanket was still on the floor.

"Oh..- wait what?" asked Donnie, who had no idea what his freckled little brother was talking about. Where Donnie was mystified by this establishment, Raphael was a bit frustrated. He put two and two together in his head; Donnie stated that he had an amazing night's sleep last night, when Leo wakes up with a fever. One slept two blanket and the other slept with nothing. The brown eyed reptile gulped to himself as he too realized this did _not_ look good for him. In suspicion, the hot headed toddler stepped over to Donatello, getting very close to his nervously expressed face

"What do you mean you found it under Donnie's blanket?"

 **(TO BE CONTINUED)**


	3. Accusations

Donatello stepped back nervously, intimidated by the glare his red masked older brother was giving him. Meanwhile, Mikey was awkwardly watching his two non sick brothers, not knowing what to say or do. If anything, he was rather afraid that he'd gotten Donnie in trouble. He wasn't thinking about what he implied about the intelligent reptile, he just saw Leo's blue blanket under Donnie's and thought "Oh there's Leo's blanket," and gave it to his feverish brother. Just before Raphael was about to get angry at Donatello and totally jump to conclusion, Master Splinter entered the scene and was dubious to the way Raph was looking t Donnie. Looks like he's shown just in time to break up a fight before it started

"What is going on in here?" he asked sternly, walking over to his boys and placing the tea cup down. "Can I not leave you alone for a moment without any conflict?"

"Sensei, Mikey found Leo's blanket hidden under Donnie's." the green eyed toddler explained, walking in front of his nervous brother

The ninja master needed a minute to figure out what Raph was talking about, but once he caught on, his ears rose in suspicion towards second youngest, while remaining calm as there was no evidence indicating Donnie was the culprit. "Is this true, Donatello?" the wise rodent asked, crossing his arms

That fact, the intelligent turtle couldn't deny. With a gulp, he nervously admitted "W-well.. um.. Hai, Sensei, but I didn't take it, I promise! I don't know how it got there!" the brown eyed child pleaded innocent. He wouldn't dream of hurting his brothers in anyway of the sort.

"Yeah right!" Raph interrupted "It was hidden under yours, and you've bragging all morning about how well you slept!"

Now Donnie was becoming frustrated as he stood up against his older brother, "Well, you were the last one with Leo before he got sick. How do we know you didn't take the blanket and are framing me?!" He question in anger. The two boys were in dead locked stares of fury until Splinter broke them up

"Yemen!" he declared, commanding the boys to break up their argument. The rodent sighed with this new development. He needed Leonardo to rest but now he had to deal with two angry boys. This discovery, however, was quite suspicious; Donnie was more rested than usual and it was now apparent why he was. Splinter knew his third oldest better though, he might be five but he was highly loving and intelligent for his age. Certainly he's be smart enough to know a reptile's body would the warmth of the blanket at night, and his conscience was too powerful for him to lie about causing Leo's illness. With all these thoughts bubbling in his mind, Yoshi kneeled between his boys and gently pulled both of them close together. "Accusing each other will solve nothing. All we know is that Leonardo's blanket was found under Donatello's own. Now, Donatello, I can sense the warmth from your body, so whether you took it or not, you most likely slept with the two blankets"

Raph and Donnie both rushed to speak for different reasons; Donnie to defend himself, and Raphie to prove his point, but Splinter rose one bony hand, pausing them from talking, "However, I also agree with Donatello in that there's nothing no proof that he is the thief. As far as I'm concerned anyone one of you three could've stolen Leonardo's blanket." He explained, as he gestured a shy Mikey to step forward since he'd not made a sound since his father reentered the room. "Now, we won't have any answers until Leonardo has rested enough for me to speak to him. What's important now is that your brother sleeps peacefully or his illness will only progress. Would that be worth your arguing?" He scolded into his sons' nervous eyes.

"No, Sensei" "Never" the two boys replied with guilt. They were both quite upset with each other, each thinking the other took Leo's blue fleece. Yet, they both understood Splinter's point, neither of them wanted to make their brother feel worse, so there would have to be a rain check on this conversation

"Now," Splinter announced, patting Donnie on the head, "Donatello for now is innocent until proven guilty. Meaning that if any of you mention the blanket again before I speak to Leonardo, there shall be serious consequences. Am I clear?"

"Hai, Sensei," the three younger turtles nodded in confirmation

"Good. Now, why don't you boys go quietly play in another room and call me if there's trouble? I'm going to stay here and watch over your brother, just please only call me if it's absolutely necessary."

"Okay..." Little Raphie shrugged as he slugged out of the room, not sure how to deal with his emotions at the moment

"Come on, Mikey." Donnie whispered as he gestured Mikey out of the room, while the latter's baby blue eyes of sympathy stayed locked on his eldest brother until they'd completely left the room. Smiling at their innocence, the Rat father sat in lotus position next to his sickly child, who started having another coughing fit in his sleep. Keeping him wrapped in the orange blanket, Master Splinter brought the child into his chest, and bounced him in his arms soothingly

"Shhhh. Calm yourself, my son. I'm right here, just rest." He cooed quietly while stroking Leo's warm, shivering cheek. Luckily, his coughing fit didn't awaken him, so Splinter laid him back on his cot and lightly tucked him in. With that, Splinter took one deep breath and entered into a deep meditative trance, with many things weighing on his mind. It doesn't make sense for one of the boys to take the blanket, they've come to Splinter before if they were too cold. From what Splinter knew of his sons, Donnie and Mikey were too sweet and too bad at lying to have stolen the fleece without being wrecked with guilt. Then there's Raphael, who did have a lying habit. However, one did the little green eyed boy didn't like was asking for help. If he was cold, he'd try to endure it on his own. If he were to take the fleece, he'd be admitting he needed help, which didn't sound like him. Sadly, this mystery would have to wait until Leonardo was rested enough to speak to him clearly without any of that bizarre gibberish.

 **(TWO HOURS LATER)**

Master Splinter was slowly coming out of his meditation. Thankfully, Leonardo's chi seemed to rest peacefully, or as much as it could being ill, he did hear some moans and coughs here and there. Once Splinter opened his eyes, he calmly looked around the room to see if anything had changed since he began meditating, and was almost startled by what he found laying next to him; Michelangelo, coloring silently, innocently kicking his legs and lying on his plastron. Apparently, the young turtle was so invested in his drawing that he didn't notice his father staring at him. The wise warrior wasn't necessarily startled by seeing his youngest child, but as a Master Ninja, he felt moderately ashamed of himself that he didn't detect what was sitting right in front of him. "Michelangelo?" he whispered as to gain his attention without disturbing Leonardo

This caused Mikey to sit up and look towards Master Splinter. "Papa!" quietly exclaimed, hugging his father's chest tightly, the signature hug for the freckled sweetheart.

Splinter smiled as he gingerly embraced Mikey back, "Why hello there, my son. How long have you been here?" He asked, looking the clock on the wall

"Hmm..." Mikey pondered and replied with a shrug, "I don't know, but I wanted to watch Leo while you took a nap." he smiled, causing Splinter to grin at Mikey's naïvety. They've been over this before; Miley mistaking meditation for sleeping, but it never bothered Yoshi, no matter how often they had this talk.

"I was simply meditating to ease my spirit as well as your brother's, but thank you for your consideration." He replied, rubbing Mikey's little head. When the crayon picture Mikey had been drawing before his trance ended caught his eye. He curiously picked it up to take a closer look at the picture, but it was so sloppy and chaotic, that the wise rodent couldn't quite make out what anything was supposed to be. Fortunately, he didn't need to ask the hyper child was quick to explain what it was supposed to be.

"Do you like it, Papa?" he asked, pointing to the green rounded stick figure, "I did my very best making this to help him get better." he spoke very quickly, but just clear enough for a father of four toddlers to understand, "it's Leo riding a giant humming bird. So now we can make them happy, and they can make Leo better!" He exclaimed with excitement, anticipating his eldest brother feeling better very soon.

Splinter had to cover his mouth from laughter once he realized what Mikey was babbling about; he thought that Leo was being sincere about the hallucinations from his fever dreams. However, he didn't have the heart to dash Mikey's hope of helping his brother heal. Leo didn't need the help, he just needed to rest and balance his body temperature. "Well, I'm sure he'll love this, my son, it's beautiful." he tickled Mikey's cheek to have him laugh even more, he loved hearing his youngest's laughs of joy so much, it always brightened his mood. However, it was still strange that the most talkative of his boys would sit in here and have to stay quiet when could've done his drawing anywhere else in the lair, free to be noisy to his heart's content. "You didn't want to draw or play with your brothers?" he asked, sounding puzzled, resulting in a pout of discontent from Michelangelo

"Aw, they're being dumb." he replied, crossing his arms "They're not fighting, but they won't talk to each other. They both think the other took Leo's blanket." he explained sadly, raising Splinter's curiosity back about what happened to the fleece.

"Well, did you take the blanket?" He asked turning his son to look him in the eye

"No" the baby blue eyed turtle shook his head quickly. Just to be absolutely sure, Splinter decided to give the boy a little harmless test. He gently lifted Mikey up to his eye level and stared into the green child's wide blue eyes with his fiery amber ones. Mikey simply stared backed, not following what his Sensei was doing. Master Splinter searched thoroughly in the child's soulful eyes for any indication of guilt or deception, when suddenly, Mikey closed his eyes for a second

"Aw man! I blinked first!" he pouted in 'defeat', mistaking Splinter's mental interrogation for a game

"You're innocent." the father said with a deadpan expression. Suddenly, a moan could heard from Leonardo, who was apparently waking up, much to Mikey's excitement.

"Leo!" He exclaimed as he almost rushed to give his elder brother a big bear hug, only for Splinter to catch him and turn him around to face him.

"No, Michelangelo. Your brother is very uncomfortable right now and is a bit disoriented. You know you mean well, but speak quietly and hug him gently. Do you understand?" he explained gently

"Hai, Papa. Oh, I mean Sensei." he reluctantly complied. With that, Splinter placed Mikey down next to his ill brother. Only when he optimistic toddler gently hugged him did Leo acknowledge them.

"H-hey Mikey." he coughed as he weakly hugged his brother back.

"How are you feeling, Leonardo?" Splinter asked, stroking his eldest son's head to check his temperature.

With a light hiccup, the dark blue eyed turtle rubbed his puffy eyes with his fist, "M...my throat and head hurt, and I'm still pretty tired, but I guess not as much as before."

"Well, you seem to be fully awake now, my Son." Splinter replied, handing Leo a small herbal teacup and a few crackers as to not upset his stomach, "Here, this should soothe your throat, and I don't you've eaten this morning."

"Thank you, Sensei, but I'm not really hungry." Leo mumbled as he took a large, swift sip of the tea. Putting the cup down, he realized that he didn't remember what went on that morning. "What happened?" he asked in confusion

"You woke up ill and half awake, my son." his father explained softly

"Yeah, you were acting really weird and you were freezing." Mikey added

"I was pretty cold last night, and I didn't sleep well." the sickly turtle replied speaking clearer than before

"I can see that. In fact, it brings me to my next point; do you understand why you were so cold last night?" The wise rodent asked carefully. Leo was very hesitant to answer, mainly because his brain wasn't entirely awake just yet, just awake enough to have a conversation.

"You didn't sleep with your blanket for the majority of the night, and you caught a light fever, which also explains your exhaustion.

"Oh, um..." the blue masked turtle wanted to speak up about this point, but his voice still frustratingly shaky and his reaction were slow, until Mikey speak up

"And I found your blanket by Donnie's cot. He slept great last night. Do you think Donnie may've taken it?" the orange masked child asked. Leo's eyes almost popped out of his head, his illness was making him more emotional than usual, and now he was very afraid he'd just gotten an innocent Donatello in trouble

"What?! Is Donnie in trouble?!" he asked rapidly, grabbing Mikey's arm impulsively

Raising an eyebrow, Splinter calmly replied, "If he took your blanket, then-"

"NO!" The eldest reptile exclaimed, trying to thrust himself off the cot to find Donatello, and nearly dragged his little brother down with him, only for his worried father to stop him in his track "Nobody took my blanket Sensei, Donnie's innocent! I-I gave him my blanket last night! He doesn't know I have it to him, I just did!" the ill child explained with a panicked adrenaline, worried that he made his brother get punished for nothing

"Leonardo! Calm yourself." Splinter said sternly as to gain his son's attention, snapping him out of his little panic spell "You say you gave Donatello your blanket deliberately?" the rodent softly asked, lifting Leo's chin to make eye contact, and the blue masked toddler quickly nodded yes, "and where was his blanket? Was it missing?" he pondered aloud, stroking his thin beard curiously

Losing his adrenaline rush, the sickly turtle crossed his arms for warmth and meekly replied, "...No" he stated with a cough, not wishing to look his Sensei in the face "but I know how cold he gets, and I thought he'd need it more than I did. I didn't think it'd get me sick." he moaned in shame. Right now, Leo had a lot of bad feelings due to his fever, but he suddenly had another bad feeling that Splinter would be disappointed in him.

With widened eyes of disbelief, Master Splinter placed Leo back down next to Mikey, who spoke before the rodent could, "but why didn't you keep yourself warm?"

"I guess I thought I could handle the cold, but that apparently didn't work out." he answered with a somewhat raspy voice

Splinter was about to scold his eldest son for being irresponsible, but then he remembered a recent discussion he's had with all four of them and realized that it's backfired in a manner he couldn't have imagined, "Oh, Leonardo, is this about how I told you boys to take care of each other?" the amber eyed rodent asked with a hint of guilt, assuming the answer was yes. Which it was as Leo nodded again implying that Splinter's guess was spot on.

"Oh, Leonardo, what were you thinking? If Donatello was too cold, he would've come to me, you didn't have to sacrifice your comfort and health for any of your brothers." the father paused, giving Leo a moment to reply, but the boy was too ashamed to respond. That expression of sorrow reminded Splinter that he had an unintentional hand in this issue. All he wanted was for the young brothers to look out for each other, danger or not, to love one another and defend each other. Splinter'd never thought about how that might backfire. He sighed as he processed his thoughts, knowing he was to fix this and had every intention to immediately. "but I have no reason to be upset with you." he softly added, much to Leonardo's surprise

"Y-you're not?" he coughed lightly into his hand, as to not infect his baby brother, who was surprisingly quiet this whole time.

"Not entirely, but you've shown me one thing; I need to have a serious talk with you boys. Let's go see your brothers." the brown furred parent spoke softly but sternly as he lifted the ill child into his loving arms. Splinter stood himself up and took two steps ahead before realizing that he wasn't being followed by the tiny little feet of his youngest child. With how quiet Mikey has been today, it was clear to Splinter that the orange masked toddler was going to be a fine ninja one day, but for now, he had to focus on me pressing matters, "Come along, Michelangelo, this involves you too." he politely ordered the freckled child to step out with them

"Oh! Sorry, Sensei." Mikey sweetly replied as he followed his and older brother out of the bedroom

( **TO BE CONTINUED** )

 **I REAAAAAALLLLLY wanted to end the story here, but if you haven't noticed, I didn't post a SINGLE fan fiction chapter or anything in October and this was eating so much time. The next chapter is the last chapter, I'm sorry for the delay. Between my daily life and another story, Desperate for Relief, this was becoming a very tiring hobby. I started writing this story so I could write without having to think too hard; a nice and simple Turtle Tots fic, that's all this was meant to be, as to help me relax. Also, I know Splinter doesn't explain what Leo did wrong in trying to help Donnie; that's because I'm saving that for the next chapter and I didn't want to repeat myself.** **With that said, thx for the patience, please leave a review and stay tuned for the final chapter.**

 **(I DO NOT OWN TMNT)**


	4. Final Chapter

While Mikey was talking to Master Splinter, the lair was eerily quiet with a brewing tension. Little Raphael was sitting by the edge of the pool, staring into the bleak water as his toes dangled atop its delicate surface. Donatello was silently playing solitaire on the couch, but with a pouted expression, harshly place the jack of spades over the queen of diamonds. Both of them were clearly bottling up their anger towards each other, and they were bound to pop at any moment. The little genius was frustrated that his hot headed brother would accuse him of such a greedy crime without evidence, and the red clad Turtle was still convinced that his nerdy brother had made their eldest ill.

Luckily, their opportunity to fight was taken when Master Splinter entered the living room with their oldest brother in his arms and the youngest walking by his side

"So there are no hummingbirds to heal Leo?" Mikey asked with a quivering lip, as if his reality was suddenly shattered before his very eyes

"I'm afraid not, Michelangelo," the wise rodent chuckled, patting his hanging head "but it's a mild fever, he wouldn't need their help either way." he added, much to Mikey's relief. Leo was getting better, that's all he desired. Now on to more pressing issues "My sons, we must have an important discussion. Raphael, come here please." he exclaimed, gaining their attention as Mikey and Splinter gained Donnie on the couch.

"Leo!" gasped Donnie as Raph was quickly by his side, staring at Leo who almost fell back to sleep while embraced in his Sensei's warm, fuzzy chest. "Are you alright?" He asked gingerly

"What do you care?" Raph asked rudely, as Donnie turned to talk back, but the quick as a whip Splinter stopped the argument before it start

"Raphael! Don't you start!" he quietly declared as to not upset the sickly turtle. This caused Raph to close his mouth while glaring at Donnie, who's turned away from him. "Now, Leonardo has something he needs to tell us." Splinter said as he rotated Leo to face his brothers. An embarrassed Leonardo coughed and turned to his father with a guilty expression, as if he was being punished "You're not in trouble." the rodent cooed while stroking his red cheeks "I just feel it'd be best if you told them what happened, okay?"

"H...Hai Sensei" Leo nodded lightly, with another light cough. He turned towards his confused younger brothers, who drew closer to him in concern.

"What is it?" asked Donatello

With a tired sign, he calmly explained "No...nobody took my blanket." he softly began "I came back from the bathroom in the middle of the night... and thought you needed my blanket more than I did." he sniffled loudly after his exhausted confession.

This came as a shock to Raph and Donnie, as they stared at Leo as if he'd gone crazy "You mean you gave me your blanket?!" the purple masked tot asked "Are you nuts?! Do you have any idea how cold the room gets at night?"

"I can't _... ah choo_ imagine." he slurred sarcastically "I was just trying to take care of you, Don, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble."

"Well you did." Raphael replied in frustration as he stepped closer to the sickly Leo "I was angry at Donnie for something you did?! I thought he was being selfish and to you sick, but you were just being over protective!" he ranted in mixed emotion. He was feeling angry at himself for being so harsh on Donnie but mad at Leo for being a pig head and not taking care of himself.

"Really?" asked Donnie, turning his hot headed brother back to him, "I thought you were just accusing me of something for no reason, you know I'd never hurt Leo." he said gingerly, putting a hand on Raph's right shoulder "I was upset because you thought I'd ever hurt Leo." he stared into Raph's emerald eyes with great despair.

Raph looked down in guilt, realizing he'd made a horrible mistake, accusing the sweet hearted Donnie of doing such a thing. "I... I'm sorry, Donnie. I was just worried about Leo, but I-I should've known better. Will you forgive me?"

The intelligent child paused for a moment in thought. He was still a bit upset with Raph's impulsive actions, but realized the evidence _was_ pointing towards him, he couldn't deny that in hindsight. So he smiled at his older brother "okay, it's alright." with a smile back, Raphael hugged Donnie tightly out of joy. Donnie hugged him back, relieved that they didn't have to be angry at each other anymore.

However, Leonardo still felt harsh remorse over starting this tension through indirect actions. He meant to help his brother, but only ended up hurting himself as well as his family. However, before he could speak up, Master Splinter finally intervened "Do you see what happens when you don't take care of yourself, my son?"

"But why would me getting sick make Donnie and Raphie mad at each other?" Leo asked in sorrow as Mikey gave him a hug in consultation

"Because they care about you so much." he replied as he gestured towards his two middle sons, "Raphael, you were upset because you were worried about Leonardo, am I correct?"

"Yeah." he nodded

"And Donatello, you knew Raphael would know better than you hurting Leonardo, that is why _you_ were upset."

"Exactly." Donnie proclaimed as he pulled himself onto the couch "Thanks for the blanket, Leo, but I can't be grateful for it if you're getting sick." he added somberly "I've been a little chilly, but I was still fine. I could've gone to Sensei I was too cold." Master Splinter nodded in agreement, as he was allowing the boys to sort out their feelings before explaining his point of this situation

"Yeah, we get you're older, but that doesn't make you better." scowled Raph, "We can still take care of ourselves."

"Now, now, Raphael, this isn't just Leonardo's fault." Master Splinter sighed before continuing, "This is my fault as well." he added, much to the boys' confusion. Before, beginning, he waved two fingers, gesturing little Raphie to come closer "Now, you boys are brothers, you are inseparable, and you love each other, correct?" he asked, hugging them together

"Hai Sensei" the four toddlers replied in unison

"I told you to always take care of each other no matter, but I wasn't clear with you, Leonardo." he said, rubbing Leo's head to wake him up a little more, "I never meant to imply not to care for yourself in exchange for your brothers."

"Oooohhhhh" Leo's leap of logic suddenly hit him "I see what I did wrong." he exclaimed. Leo realized that he should've found a way to compromise between worrying about Donnie and taking care of himself

"Yes, it's not selfish to keep yourself healthy so long as you're not sacrificing anyone else. We love you so much, that it hurts us emotionally to see you as sick as you are. This goes for all" he proclaimed lovingly, but sternly "I want all of you love and protect each other, but I'd never want to see you hurting yourselves, do you understand?"

"Hai Sensei," they exclaimed together once again

Now, it was Leo's turn to speak once again, "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble, everyone. I promise I won't get myself sick like this ever again."

"That's good to hear." said Raphia, who embraced an exhausted Leo with a warm hug "I don't want to see you make anymore bonehead moves like that ever again."

 **(THE END)**

 **Not quite a strong ending, but I'm suffering from mad writer's block right now, and I wanted to finish this story neatly. I do miss fanfic writing and miss hearing from you guys. I hope you enjoyed, and see you guys next time, God Bless**


End file.
